Tragedy Darkly Echoes Through Columbine

DENVER — A security videotape of the first moments of the Columbine High School massacre is broadcast nationwide. A student is arrested for making fresh threats. A surviving student’s mother commits suicide.

Six months after a dozen students and a teacher were killed in the shooting attack, aftershocks continue to assail the Columbine community, and many wonder if it will ever end.

The latest emotional assault occurred Friday when the mother of one of the most gravely injured students walked into an Englewood pawnshop, asked to see a gun, loaded it when the clerk’s back was turned and killed herself.

“We thought it was all over, and it started all over again,” said Angie Amaro, whose 15-year-old daughter, Crystal, attends Columbine. “This is another victim of Columbine.”

A tragedy like the Columbine attack can cause feelings of helplessness and fresh waves of grief to take hold about six months later, psychologists say.

“This is just another layer of tragedy for the people of Columbine to have to deal with,” said John Eachon, vice president of Access and Extended Services, whose counselors have worked with students in the wake of the attack.

Counselors are telling parents and students “they need to connect with friends, family and the faith community,” Eachon said.

It was around lunchtime April 20 when students Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, scattered gunfire and bombs at the suburban high school, killing 13 and injuring 26 before they committed suicide.

Columbine students returned to classes in August after a stirring, rowdy “take back the school” rally.

In the passing months, however, the stark reality of the massacre has surfaced again and again.

Earlier this month, CBS-TV was criticized by some residents and Columbine families after it broadcast a brief segment of the security camera videotape that showed the opening moments of the attack.

A 17-year-old student was arrested last week for allegedly threatening “to finish the job” begun by the student gunmen.

And Friday, Carla June Hochhalter committed suicide.

It should have been a better time for the family. Her daughter, 17-year-old Anne Marie, had recently moved her legs for the first time since the attack. The family was preparing to move into a new home that was equipped for Anne Marie’s wheelchair.

Connie Michalik, whose son Richard Castaldo also was injured last spring, said she thought the family had finally turned a corner emotionally.

“We were all depressed and devastated. . . . She was no different from us,” Michalik said. “I thought she was better, especially when Anne Marie moved her legs for the first time last week.”

But Michalik admitted she too has struggled with emotions because of her child’s injuries. “There was I time where I thought I had nothing to live for. I know what she went through,” she said.

Steve Cohn, whose 15-year-old son, Aaron, survived the library attack, said: “I just can’t take it. That’s my feeling. I can’t believe someone killed themselves over those idiots. Her daughter pulled through a lot. It’s been terrible for all of us.”

Cohn and his son have been to counseling, but the sessions have been of little help to Aaron. “Until he opens up, there’s nothing we can do,” Steve Cohn said.

The stress is eroding his sense of safety too. “I drive by the school and I’m looking behind every tree. I feel like a cop. I want to prevent it before it happens again,” he said.

*

CHAT ROOM THREATS

A Missouri teen is accused of using the Internet to threaten middle school students. A14